Santander Shows Plans For London Grand Prix

Yesterday the concept for a grand prix in London was announced with support from the city of London, British drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, along with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. The project, while still in its infancy, is surprisingly well on its way to being a reality and soon London could host a GP on its city streets.

Santander UK, the British wing of the Spanish banking group, has lead the recent efforts and contracted Populous Archtitects to produce a conceptual design of the circuit and supporting facilities. Two videos were also produced with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Button and Hamilton, showing a virtual lap around the track and an in studio introduction piece. So far these videos have made it around the world, producing a positive sentiment by both fans of the sport and the local media in England.

London's Mayor has expressed support for the event citing only small obstacles such as noise managment, as potential hurdles to overcome for the race to be held. Bernie Ecclestone, according to Adam Cooper at Speed, would front the cost to stage the event in order to make it a reality; a major contrast to the recent sanctioning fees imposed on Austin and other recent circuits.

With additional circuits such as New Jersey and Russia joining in the next few years, there's little room in the race calendar to allow for the exitsting circuits, so the question remains if the British GP at Silvertsone will be replaced by the London GP.

Until we learn more about the project and it makes it on the calendar officially for next season or 2014, take a virtual lap around the track in the video below.